Thanks Stephen, very interesting! My own research tends to focus more on the second half of the sixteenth century so admittedly I'm not as familiar with the specifics of billmen from the earlier part half or the 1400s. Do we know if the person recording the tower inventories defined a "black bill" the same way George Silver did 50 years later though?
Here's a illustration of Henry VIII's siege of Boulogne in 1544 (The bulk of his English troops during the expedition would have still been armed with bows and bills, shored up by pike and shot mercenaries from the continent). It's the highest resolution I could find, but if you zoom in with ctrl+ there seems to be a variety of bills in use, some closer to the height of a man and some longer.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/The_Siege_of_Boulogne_by_King_Henry_VIII_black-and-white.jpg
Regarding whether billmen ever fought in lines, according to the sources in the English Heritage report on flodden they did. English infantry was originally arranged into two lines in the center, a vanguard and a rearguard, and one on each wing while the Scotts advanced in 4 or 5 german-inspired pike squares with a couple-hundred yard gap between each one. After seeing this the english troops were rearranged into 4 lines side-by-side to meet them.
The thing is though a line doesn't necessarily imply a lot of discipline, according to Clifford Rogers the line was the typical formation of medieval infantry. It's not too hard to put levies armed with spears, pikes, halberds, or even a random assortment of weapons into a defensive line, what's difficult is getting them go on the offensive or fight for a lengthy period of time without losing cohesion. Cohesion being especially important for pikemen.
The Scots had only just adopted the pike square earlier that year under the instruction of French advisors and still weren't very experienced with it. Initially, a charge by one of the squares was able to drive back the English wing under the command of Edmund Howard, which had advanced forward to meet them. But when this failed to route the whole English army right away, the scots started to lose cohesion. The other Scot formations tried to follow up on the rest of the english line, but unexpectedly ran into bad terrain and similarly started to lose cohesion, allowing the english to come to close quarters.
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The said Scots were so surely harnessed with complete harness, German jacks, rivets, splents, pavises, and other habilments, that shot of arrows in regard did them no harm; and when it came to hand strokes of bills and halberds, they were so mighty, large, strong, and great men that they would not fall when four or five bills struck on one of them at once. Howbeit our bills quitted them very well, and did more good that day than bows, for they shortly disappointed the Scots of their long spears wherein was their greatest trust; and when they came to hand stroke, though the Scots fought sore and valiantly with their swords, yet they could not resist the bills that lighted so thick and sore upon them. |
This seems consistent with what later 16th century authors called the "pell mell" or the disorganized fighting which could happen when troops got inside the reach of each others' pikes and cohesion fell apart. It might be that both longer bills and shorter bills were more useful than a pike in this situation, but Smythe, Silver, and a couple of other writers seemed to think that a short bill or battleaxe was best of the three. The plan Smythe laid out for countering pike squares was to try and force a pell mell. The charge would be lead by ranks of pikemen who would each give just a single, powerful thrust to soften up the enemy while ranks of men armed with 5.5 foot bills.battleaxes followed close behind to get inside of the enemy formation where they could do the most damage.
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In contrast to all that though, here is how Smythe describes his "extraordinary" halberdiers:
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Also I would haue certen other halbardes that should be incorporated in euerie band of archers and likewise of harquebuziers, who should ser•e vpon diuers occasions, to doo execution vpon the enemie: And those Halbarders I would haue them called extraordinarie be∣cause they are not for the squadron; And those I would haue to be armed only with burgonets with collers, verie light Cuirasses and backes, and without any tasses, and in stead of pouldrons; vambrases, and gauntlets, the sleeues of their dou¦blets I meane within the fustian striped with certen narrow stripes of serecloth, or of maile, to defend the Cutt of a sword, and if that some of those extraordina∣rie battleaxes, or halbarders, were armed but only with burgonets and with short skirted Ierkins of buffe, with a double buffe vpon their brests, and the sleeues of their dou blets with stripes of maile or serecloth as aforesaid, and their swordes and daggers worne after th•same sort, as the piquers before mentioned, I thinke it allowable: But the staues of the halbards of such halbarders extraordinarie, I would wish to be longer by a foote, or a foote and a halfe or more, then the armed and ordinarie halbardes that are to enter into squadron, that is of 7. foote and a halfe long, or more, because that they being to succor troupes and so∣cieties of loose shot, or to do execution vppon diuers acci∣dents as aforesaid, and often times to fight with the enemy hand to hand, and sometimes to encounter with two, or three against one, it is requisite that their halbards for their aduauntage in fig•t should be longer then the ordinarie halbardes that are to enter into squadron; And incase that those halbards were lighter also thē the others that are for the squadron, being of good strength, it weare not amisse. |
So compared to the short weapons troops which make up the bulk of one of Smythe's infantry squadrons, these men are lightly armored, fight alongside ranged skirmishers, and need to carry light halberds 7.5 feet long or more in case they ever find themselves fighting two or three enemies at once.
Bringing this all the way back to the the topic of Gallowglass, Their axes still don't make sense to me. From how elizabethan authors describe it, it sounds like a short, weighty sparth axe would have been great for bashing on the heavily armored Scots in the melee at Flodden, but surely when fighting in small irish skirmishes and cattle raids alongside lightly armored Kerns it would have been better to carry a 7.5 foot halberd with a long point for thrusting!
Oh well. :P